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Younger Toguro
, more commonly known as Toguro, was the main antagonist of the Dark Tournament Saga '''as well as one at the end of The Spirit Detective Saga.' He served as the leader of both the Apparition Gang and Team Toguro, alongside his brother Elder Toguro. In the Filipino dub of the anime, his name is spelled '''Taguro. ' He is voiced by Tessho Genda in Japanese and by Dameon Clarke in the English FUNimation dub. Appearance Toguro is a tall man, standing easily over nine feet, being so large that his brother can sit on his shoulders and look vastly smaller in comparison. His appearance is remarkably similar to that of a Central-Asian man - unlike his European-appearing older brother -, bearing a noticeable, light brownish skin color. Toguro sports a stereotypical military crewcut hairstyle, and has a long, pointy chin. He is often seen wearing sharp, black sunglasses and an olive green trenchcoat and matching pants, that help to conceal his Olympic-level muscular physique. When Toguro releases his demon energy into his muscles, his body becomes greater in size and strength, exponentially gaining the physical strength necessary to lift objects that weigh entire tons. During this transformation, Toguro's body develops a bizzarre mutation similar to a tree branch, mostly on his chest area, inevitably leading him to develop bluish-green skin with a tree bark appearance, a humongous muscular structure and a pair of tube-like appendages coming out of his shoulders. When he was a human he was still rather tall and muscular, but had a slightly softer-looking face and expressive brown eyes. He wore a dark blue martial arts gi with a purplish belt, and did not wear sunglasses. Personality Throughout the series, Toguro displays a calm, relaxed attitude, hardly ever showing any signs of emotion. His only accentuated facial expressions are present when he is either very happy, usually during an exciting fight, or very angry, against posers and dishonorable people. He mostly speaks plainly and firmly to others, but is never afraid to speak his mind out loud. However, underneath this composed exterior, lies a man with a powerful, self-applying moral code, as well as a personal, and dependable code of honor. Toguro prefers not to take the lives of anyone, unless the job demands it, and usually ends up apologizing for his actions afterwards. He is also very loyal to his employer, as long as he is under contract. But while in the presence of individuals who behave dishonorably, cheat, mock, or otherwise do not follow the rules, he displays a ruthless and highly brutal behavioral pattern. For example, during the time of the tournament's finals, in the English dub, Toguro literally kicks his older brother off the island and into the nearby ocean, after the older sibling had sadistically mocked Genkai for her decisions in life in front of the tournament's entire audience. In the Manga and Japanese version, how his brother suggested they cheat, something that personally insulted Younger Toguro who pointed out just before he kicked his brother off the island that he had never forsaken his honor. Throughout the Dark Tournament, while it seemed that Sakyo was pulling the strings, it is slowly revealed that Toguro was the real one who manipulated the Tournament to his own ends; in order to be killed at full strength by Yusuke. Toguro's desire for death in mortal combat at the hands of a human being is later revealed to be a philosophical and psychological phenomenon, possibly derived from the trauma caused by the deaths of his students, many years prior to the series. The murderer of his students was of course the previous Champion of The Dark Tournament, a demon called Kairen. After killing the demon champion during the next tournament, Toguro wished to become a demon similar to Kairen, so that he would never lose his strength because of aging, and so that he himself would one day get killed in the same manner by another human, as a means of repenting for his vindictive actions. During his trial in Spirit World, Toguro asks that he be sent to Hell (Limbo in the FUNimation dub), insisting that he had thought a great deal about his actions and that no other place would be suited for him. However, Koenma directly tells Toguro that his actions were never atrocious enough as to condemn him to an eternal damnation. Before entering Limbo, Genkai approaches Toguro and talk about his actions in the Dark Tournament, where she reveals that she considers Yusuke as being to closest thing she had to a son. In his own odd way, Toguro also thought the same way and says that he truly cared about Yusuke. According to Elder Toguro, Genkai and Younger Toguro were also said to have been a couple of very intimate lovers when the latter was still a human. Even though they have severed ties due to the Toguro brothers wishing to become demons after defeating Kairen in the Dark Tournament, with Genkai disgusted by such a request, the Younger Toguro still seemed to harbor feelings for her, despite mocking her old age prior to killing her. This was shown when his brother insulted her death, which resulted in him sending his brother flying off the island with a devastating kick (or in the case of the manga and Japanese version where it was due to his anger towards his brother's suggestion that they try to cheat). Despite his strong sense of honor, the evidence suggests that the more of his demon form's power he shows, the less honorable he becomes, going so far as to kill members of the audience, devouring their souls, simply to maintain his highest demon energy levels. In his faux full-power form, he is prepared to do anything, and even pretends to kill Kuwabara, in order to bring out Yusuke's full potential. This is symbolic of the deepening of his soul's corruption. Biography Fifty years before the start of the series, Toguro, along with his older brother, and Genkai, his "wildcat" of a lover, built a dojo together and had several people attending. However all of this was ruined when a demon named [[Kairen|'Kairen']] (translates to "crushing forge") who was the favored contestant in the Dark Tournament fifty years prior, had massacred and swallowed all of Younger Toguro's pupils and colleagues, forcing Younger Toguro into the Dark Tournament as a "guest". For three months Younger Toguro disappeared, but returned the day before the tournament with a formed team; which included his brother and Genkai. Younger Toguro and Kairen worked their way to the Final Rounds, and each fought the other, with Younger Toguro killing Kairen and coming out as the victor, which would greatly resemble his future fight against Yusuke Urameshi. Younger Toguro's mind, however, had been incredibly warped. When given a chosen prize, both he and his brother chose to be demons, while Genkai, out of anger, wished to never be involved in the tournament ever again. The Toguro Bros. later enlisted their opponents into their group of followers, under the premise that they will one day have a rematch. Sometime after this, the brothers met Karasu and Bui, whom they had easily defeated. Either before or after this, Karasu and Bui had worked their way into Sakyo's forces. It is also known that during Toguro's life as a demon warrior, along side his team, he had met the rambunctious, adolescent warrior Tanaka. After defeating his opponent with no more then 3% of his strength, Toguro spared Tanaka's life, referring to him as being spineless and unworthy of being killed by his hands. It was years later that Tanaka had grown up to become Suzuki, leader of Team Uraotogi, and swore to defeat Toguro in a fight. Unfortunately, Suzuki had never made it into the finals, nor did he become strong enough in order to accomplish his goal. Ironically enough, after Toguro was killed, Suzuki gained power to that of an A-class demon during the Three Kings saga. Spirit Detective Saga When Tarukane kidnapped Yukina, the ice apparition, he hires the Toguro brothers and their demon mercenary group, the Apparition Gang to help make her cry in order to produce the valuable hiruseki ''stones. Toguro slaps her but with no effect, and she only relented and began to cry when Toguro's older brother had strangled a few of the ice maiden's birds that had befriended her. Before leaving, he tells Yukina that she could make it a lot less painful for herself and simply give up hope. Later that day, after Yusuke and Kuwabara had successfully defeated all of Tarukane's guards and the entire Apparition Gang,(including their elite unit the Triad), the Toguro brothers served as a last resort. The Older Toguro brother transforms himself into a sword as a means to combat Kuwabara's spirit sword. Younger Toguro is later saved by his sibling after Yusuke fires a spirit gun blast point-blank at his face. However, he survived the attack thanks to his brother, who transforms into a shield. Luckily, with the "power of love" Kuwabara steps back up and uses his spirit sword in order to combat his opponents. Toguro is able to contend with Kuwabara, and punch him hard enough to knock him out of the fight. Yusuke attempts to shoot him with a spirit gun, but Toguro dodges. Realizing it could be his last chance, Yusuke charges him and shoots a blast at point-blank range. As the Toguro brothers where about to finish the spirit detective and his companion, Kuwabara and Yusuke decide to combine their attacks. After Yusuke gives Kuwabara a boost of speed by firing his spirit gun directly in his back side, Kuwabara was able to stab Toguro right through the stomach, seemingly leaving the demon for dead. Shortly after the mission was over, Koenma & Botan started celebrating Toguro's defeat at the hands of Yusuke, only to have an ogre come running into the room screaming frantically while waving a video tape around. The said video reveals that Toguro had not been actually killed. In truth, Toguro was strong enough to withstand Kuwabara's sword. Sakyo makes an appearance via a video conference, rejoicing in Toguro's success as a double agent. It is explained that Toguro had been working for Sakyo the whole time, he had intentionally lost the fight so that Sakyo could win Tarukane's entire fortune, which had been wagered on Toguro winning against the spirit detective. Toguro expressed interest in Yusuke's strength and announces that he shall enjoy fighting him within the Dark Tournament. The video ends with Toguro decapitating an insanity-driven Tarukane, with a swift kick. Dark Tournament Saga Toguro reveals himself to be alive in front of Yusuke. The specifics of the meeting differ somewhat between the ''manga and anime: * In the manga, as Yusuke actually leaves school once every period had ended, he runs into Toguro outside the school yard's vicinity. Toguro shoots an air bullet at Yusuke, which merely cuts through his school jacket. Taking the hint, Yusuke behaves around him and follows Toguro to a construction site. Once there, Toguro reveals 60% of his power, leaving Yusuke frightened and helpless. Toguro threatens to kill Yusuke unless the spirit detective agrees to participate in the Dark Martial Arts Tournament, along with four other members. Yusuke accepts the invitation, and shortly after, Toguro departs with a feeling of satisfaction.Yu Yu Hakusho manga; Chapter 51 * In the anime, as Yusuke is on a reluctant date with Keiko, they notice a large crowd of people in front of a building that had been vandalized. The building in question had two giant holes on its side wall, appearing to have been hit by a large object. Yusuke notices a suspicious motorbiker near the scene of the crime and attempts to interrogate him. The man reveals himself to be Toguro, who flicks his hand at Yusuke, leaving a large cut through the front of his school jacket. He asks Yusuke if he is surprised to see him there and Yusuke replies that he expects the people he kills to remain dead. Toguro then tells him that they would be having a little talk and tells Yusuke that he should come with him unless he wanted anything bad happening to Keiko. Yusuke behaves around him and follows Toguro to a construction site. Once there, Toguro reveals 60% of his power, destroys the entire building that was still unfinished and immediately threatens to kill Yusuke and and his loved ones unless the spirit detective agrees to participate in the Dark Tournament, along with Kuwabara and three other members. Yusuke accepts the invitation and shortly after Toguro departs with a feeling of satisfaction. Incidentally, Kuwabara had witnessed Toguro's strength from a distance, and also begins fearing the demon. After leaving the construction site, Toguro meets up with Kurama and Hiei. He informs them that they are already members of the Urameshi team, that demons who side with humans will get no sympathy, and that they should look for a fifth member in order to complete the number of participants needed to enter the Dark Tournament. Throughout the Dark Tournament, Younger Toguro made several minor appearances, commenting on matches and single-handedly winning those for his own team. He also was ordered by Sakyo to kill several people, including the tournament committee and the owner of Team Masho, the scheming cheater, Butajiri. Just after the semifinals, Younger Toguro faced off in a battle with destiny against his old friend, Genkai. As Yusuke ran to help Genkai, Genkai was getting beaten to death by younger Toguro at his level of 80% power. As he said during Genkai's first match with her mask off, "You can't beat Genkai with skill and tactics! Only raw power can do that!" Younger Toguro's role came at its height when he fought a very lengthy battle against Yusuke Urameshi. For a while each of them kept increasing their strength until Younger Toguro reached 100%, and killed several audience members. Realizing many could die, Genkai possessed Pu and told Younger Toguro to kill Kazuma Kuwabara so that Yusuke's complete strength could be brought out in their fight out of rage and anger. After doing so, although Kuwabara was secretly alive, Yusuke began to gain the advantage, so much so that Younger Toguro was forced to go beyond his normal limits to 100% of his 100% form (In the Japanese version Toguro had powered himself up to 120%, whereas in the English dub he reveals that what he initially had said was 100% was more like 85%) where they each sent a major blow to each other, though Younger Toguro was unaffected by Yusuke's Rei-Gun at full power. Having used too much of his power, including his life force, by blocking Yusuke's attack, Younger Toguro's muscles crumble, and he dies. Before he died, he thanked Yusuke for allowing him to use such great strength. In the afterlife, Koenma offered Younger Toguro a light punishment because of his beneficent deeds had helped him atone for his past sins (Toguro was a noble and honorable fighter who was only looking for stronger opponent to defeat him); Toguro refused and asked to be sent to the last cycle of Hell (where you go under 10,000 years of torture repeated for 10,000 cycles, then your soul ceases to exist) or Limbo in the English anime version. On his way, he chatted shortly with Genkai, who attempted to persuade him not to go to Hell. Toguro asked Genkai to watch over Yusuke to ensure that he doesn't go down the same path that he did, and apologized to her for "being so much trouble" expressing his belief that they could have had a beautiful life if things had gone differently, before going straight into Hell. Chapter Black Saga During the beginning of the Chapter Black arc, Koenma uses Younger Toguro as a measuring unit for demon classes. He states that Toguro was strong enough to be classified as an upper B Class demon (although it is possible Toguro had reached a lower A Class rank since he couldn't get through to the demon world by himself). Yusuke is shocked to hear that Toguro had been such a difficult person to defeat and was only a demon of medium strength. This notion leaves Yusuke with a sense of dread as he begins to wonder on the difficulty of fighting an A Class demon - or, even worse, an S Class demon. Techniques/Moves * Percentage Power (筋肉操作, Kinniku Sōsa, literally translated as Muscle Manipulation): Toguro's signature is the ability regulate how much of his maximum power he releases, ranging from 0% to 100%. However, in the Dark Tournament in his final fight against Yusuke, as Yusuke goes to a full power reigun, he builds up to 100%. With each increase comes a burst of demon energy and his muscles thicken and enlarge themselves. At full power, his appearance changes drastically, affecting even his skin color, but requiring him to feed on souls to maintain such immense power, which leads him to suck out the souls of the weaker creatures in the surrounding area through special appendages on his upper back. At just 85% in the anime, his physical strength is enough to completely dominate over his opponent Yusuke Urameshi prior the Detective's awakening as an Upper B Class opponent, forcing him to go beyond his limits, and making him strong enough to negate a full powered Spirit Gun filled with all of his opponents energy. * Finger Flip Bullets (指弾, Shi Dan): Never given an official name in either the original Japanese or the English dub but named in the video game Yu Yu Hakusho Dark Tournament, Toguro uses this technique in order to unleash long-ranged death. All he has to do is simply flick a finger and, thanks with his muscle manipulation ability, a tiny burst of vacuum erupts from the action and leaves bullet-shaped holes in whatever it hits. * Deadly Arm Sweep (大地裂斬, Dai Chi Retsu Zan, literally translated as Great Earth Decapitating Fissure): Never given an official name in either the original Japanese or the English dub, Toguro simply charges energy into his arm before lashing out with a backhanded sweeping gesture. This is enough to release a cutting energy wave, powerful enough to instantly kill any lower-class demon it contacts, or an energy bomb that explodes upon impact with considerable carnage inflicted as a result. Other appearances Toguro is a playable character in the game J-Stars Victory Vs. Trivia * In the original Japanese version, Toguro chooses to go to Hell as soon as he reaches Spirit World. But the FUNimation dub-version of the series has Toguro choosing Limbo. It is well known, from a religious point of view, that these two realms are completely different. But the description of Limbo in this universe seems to be the equivalent of "Hell", as Koenma states that it is the worst punishment given. * Ironically, both Toguro brothers's final fates would end up very similar, that of eternal suffering: the Younger Toguro volunteered to go to Hell (Limbo in the FUNimation English dub) where he would be tortured for the rest of eternity, while the Elder was imprisoned in Kurama's Sinning Tree, where he would spend the rest of eternity in a hallucination of his own personal suffering. * Younger Toguro's name refers to the coil of a snake. It is written phonetically, rather than for semantics. * Togashi considers the Toguro brothers to be his favorite villains in the series because they are "fundamentally unrestrained". * Since it is assumed he is the same age as Genkai, it would place him around 70. * From his appearance to his outfit, Younger Toguro bares a loose resemblance to Schwarzenegger's Terminator character. * Younger Toguro is very similar to ''Street Fighter'' series character Akuma: both were once human, gave up their humanity to become extremely powerful demons (only in the US), have an insatiable lust for fighting, have a code of honor, killed the main character's teacher, are major antagonist to their series respective main characters, and are waiting for someone who has the power to defeat them. ** Younger Toguro also shares notable traits with the villains Frieza and Cell from ''Dragon Ball Z''. Frieza is also a user of outputting his power via percentage control; when he does this, his muscle mass expounds drastically just like Toguro. Cell is voiced by Dameon Clarke in the FUNimation dub, just like Toguro. Also, Cell invited the main cast of characters to a tournament so that they could fight him in battle. When faced with their last opponents (Gohan in Dragon Ball Z), both went to drastic measures by killing someone (Android 16 in Dragon Ball Z) to draw out their hidden strength, which both were unable to do by themselves. Ironically, both Toguro and Cell were overwhelmed by a blue-colored energy blast in a final tug-of-war-esque struggle and ultimately killed. Cell and Toguro also share the same goals of desiring more strength and a competitive fight more than anything else (though unlike Toguro, Cell does this out of pleasure instead of Toguro's deep-seated desire for atonement for what happened in the past). ** Younger Toguro also displays some similarities to Rob Lucci from One Piece as both have cold, collective demeanors and served under a cowardly man (Lucci serving under Spandam and the Younger Toguro serving under Tarukane.) Both have a technique that shoots a bullet like energy from a flicking motion. ** Uvogin, a villain from Togashi's second hit series Hunter x Hunter shares some similarities with Younger Toguro: for instance, they both unleash their powers gradually and would announce the percentage of strength that they are using. They are also both killed by people who wanted revenge (Kurapika killed Uvogin because he wanted revenge for the Kurta Clan). They are also both the physically strongest members of their teams. References Navigation Category:Characters Category:Demons Category:Male Characters Category:Upper B-Class Demons Category:Deceased Characters Category:Masters Category:Villains